Yinka Shonibare MBE

I often seem to be more enamored by art of the past than contemporary art. There are always exceptions to the rule, of course, and sometimes an artist just comes along that takes my breath away, and I have to bring myself -- body and soul -- back to the present. Yinka Shonibare is just one of those artists...



The new exhibition of his work at the Brooklyn Museum of art is a major midcareer survey of work by the Nigerian-born British artist. According to the museum description: "Shonibare’s artwork explores contemporary African identity and its relationship to European colonialism through painting, sculpture, installation, and moving image. Working with visual symbols such as Dutch wax fabric (produced in Europe for a West African market) and headless mannequins dressed in brightly colored costumes, Shonibare evokes the complex web of interactions, economic and racial, that reveal inequalities between the dominant and colonized cultures of Europe, Asia, and Africa."

A key material in Shonibare's work since 1994 are the brightly coloured 'African' fabrics (Dutch wax-printed cotton) that he buys himself from Brixton market in London.

"But actually, the fabrics are not really authentically African the way people think," says Shonibare. "They prove to have a crossbred cultural background quite of their own. And it’s the fallacy of that signification that I like. It’s the way I view culture—it’s an artificial construct [Wikipedia]."

He has these fabrics made up into Victorian dresses, covering sculptures of alien figures or stretched onto canvases and thickly painted over.



Of course, the political and historical implications of his work resonate with the violence and racism of the past, of Western imperialism, and of the erasure of African culture in favor of European culture, art, and costume [which is still happening, many would argue].





The repetition of the missing head in many of his sculptures works to emphasize the erasure of identity and race, while the theatrical and decadent costumes create a polarity between the false and the real -- what is missing and what is being lied about? Does the costume represent the only identity that matters? Can the African identity simply be morphed and tailored into something else? The beautiful pattern and fabric decorate and cover a harsher reality.

For more information on Shonibare's show in Brooklyn, check out the museum site.

Current Obsession: The 20's Cloche Hat

I've got quite a weakness for hats and haberdashery! Up until now, I've always thought of hats as a casual, throw-it-on-when-you're-lazy kind of accessory, but these gorgeous 20's style hats and cloches by Yellow Field 7 have me thinking that the fancy cocktail hat needs to make a comeback!

And just look at these dashing vintage ladies, sleek and oh-so-gamine in their cloches...

All vintage images from My Vintage Vogue

Shameless Plug: Huge Clothing Lot for Sale on Ebay!

If you or anyone you know is looking to amp up their wardrobe, I have listed a huge, 60-piece lot of clothing on Ebay. Yay for closet-purging! Everything is in good condition, most of it has barely been worn more than one or two times. I have sweaters, cardigans, jackets, summer dresses, skirts, and a pair of Seven white skinny jeans. In addition, I've got a great DKNY dress, a super-cute romper from Urban Outfitters, a cashmere sweater, and a mirror-image "Balenciaga" motorcycle bag. That's the tip of the iceberg! Take a look if you're curious and let me know if you have any questions!!

Fernand Khnopff and the Symbolic Woman

I'm feeling a bit under-the-weather today, so instead of plotting an exciting new post, I thought I would just post some images I've been collecting by one of my favorite artists, Fernand Khnopff. Khnopff was a Belgian artist who had quite a cult following during the 1890's. In some respects he reminds me of Felicien Rops, another Symbolist artist I've written about previously. Both artists had a knack for portraying women as beautiful, yet strangely eerie and foreboding.

"At the Altar of Hypnos"

Khnopff had a very particular way of depicting women's eyes -- their stares are a rather paradoxical combination of vacant and possessed, wouldn't you say?

He was also fond of imagining his female subjects as animals, as you can see in his most famous image, "The Caress" [above]. It was not uncommon during this period to see women in art and literature associated with primal urges and bestial tendencies.

"Medusa's Blood"

Like many other Victorian and Symbolist artists, Khnopff was also intrigued my mythology, and one of his favorite subjects was the Medusa figure -- potentially a symbol of the dangerous, deadly woman, but also an evocation of being cast-off, alienated, and misunderstood...

"Istar" [left], and "Listening to Flowers" [right]

"The Offering"

"Young English Woman"

"The Veil"

Of course, I particularly love this piece depicting a woman smoking a cigarette ["The Cigarette, 1912]. As I've mentioned before, there is something so fascinating to me about images of women and cigarettes from this period -- it would have been considered quite taboo at the time, because it was a habit only considered acceptable for men!

"Who Shall Deliver Me?" [from the poem by Christina Rossetti].

"The Kiss of the Sphinx" [left], and "Sleeping Medusa" [right]

"Head of a Woman"

"Des Cheveux Noirs" [sold recently at Christie's auction for over $65,000].

"Study of a Woman"

...or is it two women? Doubling was a common theme among late Victorian artists, as well. Women were often depicted kissing, staring at, even fondling their own image in mirrors. Khnopff's version here seems ambivalent -- are there two women or is this a fantasy in which the mirror-image has a will of its own? Some critics argue that these double-images represent women as narcissistic, egoistic, and incapable of loving any person other than themselves...what is your take??

Korea's Boys Over Flower Fashion Styles

Boys Over Flower, Korea's version of Japanese manga Hana Yori Dango has captured the hearts of many Filipinos. I must say that I am one of the viewers who regularly watched their Filipino-dubbed episode everyday. Aside from enjoying the storyline, I also love the fashion styles of the characters in the said tv series. They are so fashion forward and from what I have heard last Saturday, the wardrobe budget spent for the show reached Php 5 Million. According to a local news, the suits and dresses of the characters are designer's clothes and custom-made for each of them to achieve their perfect preppy look.



Here's some of the still images from Boys Over Flowers:








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